Foresight Group has been named Company of the year at the eighth New Energy & Cleantech Awards in London

In a glittering ceremony at the Park Plaza Victoria, the firm, an infrastructure and private equity investment manager with over £1.3 billion of assets under management, won the Financier of the Year, and was selected as the overall winner by an independent judging panel.

Foresight Group was recognised for a £13.2 million investment into the Mersey Bioenergy project, the acquisition of three of the largest solar plants in the UK, and a total transactional deal value in excess of £360 million.

Among other winners were Citu and their innovative ‘Passive Haus’ concept, a super insulated, timber frame construction to ensure efficient temperature regulation, with the judges also noting their community focus on reducing waste and promoting sustainability.

Retailer of the year went to the Cooperative Food, with such achievements as an impressively high percentage of their energy used coming from renewables and a considerable reduction in greenhouse gases in recent times.

Tidal Lagoon Swansea Bay, billed as the world’s first tidal lagoon power plant, secured the Energy Champion of the year. The project is expected to generate 495 gigawatt hours of clean power, enough for 155,000 homes. The judges viewed the project as a game changer in renewable power with a palpable community engagement benefit.

Ben Lobel, of the New Energy & Cleantech Awards said: ‘This event was a showcase for a burgeoning renewables sector. Renewables make up an increasing percentage of the world’s electricity and we have seen rewarded some excellent representatives of the industry .’

The full list of winners:

Advisory Firm of the Year – Burges Salmon

Deal of the Year – Glennmont Partners

NextEnergy Solar Fund’s listing highly commended.

Developer of the Year – Citu

Entrepreneur of the Year – James Hygate – developed a process to produce biofuel for aviation in 2011 and was granted a full patent last year